"The Bishop and The Seeker": Integral Incubator Day 2: The Three Faces of God and Cosmic Nipples

Continued from Day 1

Boulder Integral

1,000 golden cords dangled from the ceiling as the day began with a light, fun movement exercise and a lovely meditation on the Three Faces of God. Three Faces is Ken Wilber's concept for integrating one of the main themes I explore in my book--the tension of holding God as an impersonal force we can find union with or a personal force we can have communion with. The meditation was taped, and I'll be using it for the series of Meetups I plan to lead in DC on related themes. (As I talk with people here about Meetup I find many are not aware of this amazing online resource for finding people with your interests in your geographic area--and they are thrilled when I tell them about it.)

Planning vs Visioning
Next up was an opportunity to do a four-quadrant analysis of our projects. Mine showed me something I knew but was galvanized to do something about: the fact that my "upper left" (individual interior) is engaged round-the-clock in PLANNING how to get my book into the right hands, but I lag behind in visioning and prayer to support that intention. And perhaps the solution is in my lower left (collective interior), asking for help among my support network. Here's my start, in a form of prayer we call a "spiritual mind treatment" in my Spiritual Living community:

I know there is only one promotion project,
and that is the Divine promotion of ever-expanding love and consciousness in the Kosmic Kingdom.

I align myself with this unquenchable flow,
riding its wave to find the perfect hands to receive my book--those who can use it to heal religious tension in their families and communities while moving closer to their own spiritual Source.

I am so grateful to be a part of this creative shower of milk and honey,

And I release results, knowing the perfect outcome is already done
in the Mind of God.

Lunch with a Publisher

For lunch I hooked up with Jim Ward, a fellow here from Charlottesville, Virginia, who edits a stably successful alternative newspaper that's distributed throughout conservative southern Virginia. His project at the Incubator is expanding the reach of "The Echo" and perhaps finding partners. He asked for a review copy of The Bishop and the Seeker, and I told him I couldn't imagine a better way to tap the solidly Christian market than by featuring a series of debates by me and my co-author Bishop Thomas.

Catbird seat
In the afternoon I passed on a presentation by Sue Briteman on how to craft the "elevator speech" for our projects, putting in some work time on my own project: planning promotion of my book. In our "study hall," I've found myself "the catbird seat;" in the photo below that's me in the far corner of the room sitting atop a barstool and high-top table that's feeling like my office away from home.

Big Ideas: Big Womb
Later I attended an informal talk by one of Integral's top theorists on human development: Swiss-born Dr. Susanne Cook-Greuter, who is here as a participant to work on her book. (Her husband is here working on his novel.) She has sensed something missing in the Buddhist concept of Big Mind and Big Heart as essential features/sources of reality. She explored with us how our projects might be inspired by metaphors around the idea of "Big Womb" as the force that creates. Metaphors flew thick and fast as she told us that breastfed babies receive milk not in a single stream, but in a shower of many tingling streams that stimulate their mouths in many places. Creativity as "cosmic nipple in the sky," she said. Do you think that talk influenced my prayer above?

And more!
There is so much more to tell. Dinner with Tim Wertz of South Carolina who wants to help build Integral Families, dancing and drawing our projects, and more. but I'm feeling like a kid who's had too much cotton candy. Don't tell anyone, but I think I'll skip meditation this morning and just sit gazing at the view of red rock buttes from my hotel room window. This afternooon, we're off to visit Ken Wilber.